Everything/Anything and…Chess…"Despite the documented evidence by chess historian HJR Murray, I've always thought that chess was invented by a goddess"–George Koltanowski: from the foreword to:"Women in chess, players of the Modern Age"

14th October – 2nd November 2008….Who is going to be the winner?? The battle for the highest Chess Title! You can find the OFFICIAL LINK on my side-bar in the “Admin”-section as well in the “Chess” section…look out for the same image as the image in top of this post…I will be following the Championships and blog about it too…you can also find a link underneath my “welcome” image…on the side bar of my blog..(right hand side- top – the link will open in a new window)Please click hereto look at statistics between the 2 players on Wiki…the link will open in a new window.Schedule for the World Chess Championship 2008:

All games start at 3pm! 2pm UK local time and 9am Eastern USA time.Game 1 Tuesday October 14 —1/2 Game 2 Wednesday October 15 Game 3 Friday October 17
Game 4 Saturday October 18 Game 5 Monday October 20
Game 6 Tuesday October 21
Game 7 Thursday October 23
Game 8 Friday October 24
Game 9 Sunday October 26
Game 10 Monday October 27
Game 11 Wednesday October 29
Game 12 Friday October 31
Tiebreak Sunday November 02

On this link of Chessgamesyou can play through Kramnik and Anand’s games where they played one another. A new window will open when you click on the link! If you slide down to Anand, you will find more games to play through and at the bottom of this post you will find more links on my blog…- with games to play through- that were all played during tournaments.

Where: Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bonn

Overall Prize fund: 1,5 Million Euro

The match will consist of twelve games, played under classical time controls, in the period from October 14 to October 30, 2008. If there is a tie at the end of these games a tiebreak will be played on November 02, 2008. The prize fund, which will be split equally between the players, is 1,5 million Euro (approximately 2,1 million US Dollars) including taxes and FIDE licensee fees.

V. Kramnik and V. Anand. World Chess Championship Tournament Sep. 2007, Mexico City
Image: Official Site

1886 – 1946
Wilhelm Steinitz (Austria/USA) was the first official World Champion in the chess history. In 1886, he defeated Johannes Hermann Zukertort in the first classical tournament for the World Chess Champion title. They played 20 games against each other – and Steinitz won by 12.5:7.5 points. Steinitz defended his title up to 1894. Emanuel Lasker (Germany) deprived Steinitz of his title and remained champion for 27 years – a unique record in the chess history. The next World Chess Champions were José Raoul Capablanca, Alexander Alekhine and Max Euwe.

1948 – 1993
Since 1948, World Chess Federation (FIDE) started to organize the World Chess Championships. After Alekhine´s death in 1946, the new World Champion had to be determined. Thus, there was a tournament with several players where Mikhail Botvinnik (USSR) became a winner. Since that time, the reigning Champion should defend his title in a match against a challenger. Vassily Smyslov, Mikhail Tal, Tigran Petrossian and Boris Spassky – all of USSR – were the next World Champions. In 1972, Bobby Fischer (USA) broke through the dominance of the Soviet players by defeating Boris Spassky in Reykjavik. In 1975 Fischer refused to fight for his title, and as a result his challenger Anatoly Karpov was appointed as new Champion. Karpov – who played two times against Viktor Korchnoi and once against Garry Kasparov – kept his title until November 1985. Then it was Kasparov, who defeated Karpov by 13:11 points and became the new World Champion. 1986, 1987, and 1990 Kasparov succeeded in reserving his chess crown against Karpov, before he broke away from FIDE in 1993.

1993 – 2006
In 1993 Kasparov refused to defend his title under the conditions provided by FIDE – and together with his challenger Nigel Short (England) the World Champion decided to leave FIDE by holding the Championship match under the auspices of the new founded “Professional Chess Association” (PCA). Kasparov won the match against Short and retained the title of “Classical World Champion”. Two years later he won the next title match against Viswanathan Anand (India) in the New York World Trade Center. Finally it was Thursday, the 2nd November 2000, when Kasparov’s era ran out: with 8.5:6.5 victory Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) dethroned Kasparov, who did not manage to win a single game. Kramnik, at that time 25 years old, became the 14th Classical World Chess Champion. In October 2004 the next Championship took place: In Brissago (Switzerland) Kramnik held out against the attacks of the Hungarian Peter Leko and kept his title. Leko was qualified for this match by having won the Candidates’ tournament in 2002 in Dortmund.

On the other hand, FIDE continued organizing its own World Chess Championships from 1993 on. The FIDE title holders between 1993 and 2006: Anatoly Karpov (1993), Alexander Khalifman (1999), Viswanathan Anand (2000), Ruslan Ponomariov (2002), Rustam Kasimdzhanov (2004) and Veselin Topalov (2005).

The split of the chess world into two competitive championships ended in 2006. The duel between the Classical World Chess Champion Vladimir Kramnik and FIDE World Chess Champion Veselin Topalov took place in Elista from 23 September to 13 October 2006. In a historic battle this unification match combined both titles in one FIDE World Chess Championship. Having won this important event, Vladimir Kramnik became an undisputed World Chess Champion. Continue to read more on the Official site here:http://www.uep-worldchess.com/

Image: chessgames.com

VLADIMIR KRAMNIK
(born Jun-25-1975) Russia
Vladimir Kramnik was born in Tuapse, on June 25, 1975. In 1991 he won The World Under 18 Championship, and began a string of international success. At the Manila Olympiad 1992, he achieved a gold medal for best result on reserve board. Major tournament triumphs were soon to follow, such as Dortmund 1995, Tilburg 1997, and Wijk aan Zee 1998. Dortmund became a favorite stop, as Kramnik would go on to win seven more times, either as shared champion, or clear first. In 2000 Kramnik won his first Linares tournament, completing his set of victories in all three of chess’s “triple crown” events: Corus, Linares, and Dortmund. Kramnik would later capture additional Linares victories in 2003 (shared) and 2004.
In 2000 Kramnik reached the pinnacle by defeating long-time champion Garry Kasparov for the World Championship in London by the score of 8 1/2 to 6 1/2. Kasparov was reported as saying, “He is the hardest player to beat in the world.” The year 2002 saw Kramnik play an eight-game match against the program Deep Fritz (Computer) in Bahrain. The match ended in a 4-4 tie, with Kramnik and the computer each winning two games and drawing four. In 2006 the German organization Universal Event Promotion (UEP) would stage a return match of six games, which Kramnik lost, +0 -2 =4.

In 2004, Kramnik successfully defended his title by drawing a 14 game match against Hungarian GM Peter Leko in Brissago, Switzerland. His next title defense was in 2006, in a reunification match with the holder of the FIDE world title, Veselin Topalov. As part of his preparation for the match, Kramnik played first board for Russia in the 37th Chess Olympiad (2006), where he won the gold medal for best performance rating of all participants (2847). He also took part in the Dortmund Sparkassen (2006) supertournament, tying for first place with Peter Svidler.

The $1 million Kramnik-Topalov World Championship Match (2006), was played in Elista from September 21 to October 13, and drew record numbers of online followers on most major chess sites. After much controversy surrounding a forfeit in round 5, Kramnik won in the tiebreak phase, thereby becoming the first unified World Chess Champion since the schism of 1993.

Kramnik lost the unified World Champion title when he finished second to Viswanathan Anand at the Mexico City FIDE World Championship Tournament (2007). Kramnik will exercise his entitlement to a match for the World Championship against Viswanathan Anand in Bonn, Germany, starting 14 October 2008.

It is an almost senseless challenge to describe Vladimir Kramnik in only a few lines. His personality has too many facets; his areas of interests are too diverse. What is clear is that Kramnik is not solely fixated on chess. Current affairs interest him just as intensively as numerous sport and cultural activities, several of which he regularly engages in. The cosmopolitan would love to enjoy life ever more intensively, but his drive to succeed holds this inclination within limits. What is it that marks out a world chess champion in him even though he doesn’t focus exclusively on chess?

People close to Kramnik often claim that this has something to do with his creative nature and strategic gifts. Kramnik considers chess less as a sport and more as the art of carrying out a long-term plan. The harmonious interplay of his pieces and the beauty of his game are already legendary. He is always searching for creative and new solutions, particularly when he is playing.

In many games, they say, he sees things that no computer can calculate and no other grandmasters could discover. The ingenious ideas would come to him quite easily, providing him with moments of pure joy. The artistic vein in the 32-year-old Muscovite must have been given to him in his cradle. His father Boris is a well-known sculptor; his mother Irina a music teacher. No wonder that journalists all over the world have dubbed Kramnik an “artist” or “painter”.

Kramnik started to play chess at the age of five. At 12, his enormous talent was recognized in Moscow and encouraged. As a teenager, Kramnik got better and better – at only 16, he won the U18 World Championship. The list of his victories is long. He has already finished all major tournaments in the world as the victor. And he holds a record which made sporting history: Kramnik was unbeaten at the highest level in 86 classical games over 18 months up to July 2000.World Championship
Thursday, November 2, 2000, London: Vladimir Kramnik became the World Chess Champion with a brilliant 8.5-6.5 result against Garry Kasparov (Russia), who could not win a single game. After Garry Kasparov had congratulated him, the greatest dream of his life became true. Exulting, Kramnik threw his arms up into the air in triumph. The audience’s applause and the subsequent tumult will not be forgotten. It was a historic moment in the history of chess: Kramnik had not only won the lion’s share of the two-million dollar prize money; his victory had ended Kasparov’s 15-year-long reign on the chess throne.

First Challenge
In 2004, he faced off in another World Championship Match, this time in Switzerland : Kramnik successfully defended his title against the Hungarian super grandmaster Péter Lékó. In a complex strategic battle, he pulled off a supreme coup, winning in the 14th game – the last in the match – with a 7:7 tie. Kramnik was lucky because it was agreed before the match that he had to be beaten outright based on points – the challenger Lékó came heart-wrenchingly close to doing so.

2005 was a year of ups and downs for the World Champion. Kramnik was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, entered intense medical treatment, and disappeared from the tournament hubbub for six months. The break seemed to rejuvenate the Russian – at his comeback in the 2006 Chess Olympiad in Turin , he had the best individual score of all 1,000 participants. Kramnik was successful in several tournaments thereafter and on 1 January 2008 he again occupied the no. 1 position in the FIDE world ranking list.

The Unification Match

In October 2006, Kramnik faced the biggest challenge: the unification match that would decide who the next unique, absolute World Champion would be. In a historic fight against all sort of adversities, Kramnik defeated the FIDE champion Veselin Topalov ( Bulgaria ) to become the first unified World Champion after 1993, the one and only official World Chess Champion. His win in Elista was one of the most impressive victories in all of sports history.

Highlights:

– World Chess Champion 2000-2007
– Undefeated in three World Championship Matches
– Three-time Olympiad winner as a member of the Russian team
– Russian Honoured Master of Sport
– Current ELO rating: 2788

Please click HERE to play through Kramnik’s games on chessgames.com The link will open in a new window.

VISWANATHAN ANANDAll games on these links will open in a new window.
Please click HEREto play through a ‘Petrov Defence’- game which was played in 2003. This Sicilian game was played in 2001and this Sicilian Najdorf was played in 2003.(born Dec-11-1969) India
Viswanathan Anand, or “Vishy” as he is known to his fans, became in 1984 the youngest Indian to earn the title of IM at the age of fifteen. At the age of sixteen he became the Indian Champion. In 1987, he became the first Indian to win the World Junior Championship. At the age of eighteen, he became India’s first grandmaster. His prowess at quick-play chess earned him the nickname “The Lightning Kid.”
Anand contested a match with Garry Kasparov for the PCA World Chess Championship in 1995, but lost. Three years later he won a knockout tournament in Groningen to qualify to play for the FIDE title against Anatoli Karpov, but was defeated in rapid tie-breaks. a game by them in 1996 with the Reti-opening.

In 1998, he won the strongest Linares tournament ever, with an average rating of 2752, making it a category 21 event. In 2000, he beat Alexey Shirov to become the FIDE World Chess Champion. He is a four-time winner of the Chess Oscar award and the 2003 FIDE World Rapid Chess Champion. In spring of 2006, following a record-extending fifth victory at Corus Wijk aan Zee (2006), Anand became only the fourth player ever to crack the 2800-Elo mark in FIDE ratings, following Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik, and Veselin Topalov.2007 was a year of two memorable milestones for Anand. First, he finally achieved his longtime goal of becoming world #1 in ratings. After winning his second victory at Linares-Morelia (2007), he overtook Topalov to claim first place on FIDE’s April list. His second great success came at the FIDE World Championship Tournament (2007). Leading throughout the event, Anand captured the unified World Chess Champion title with an undefeated +4 score. A few months later, he won the Morelia-Linares (2008) outright for the third time.Anand’s first title defense will be in a match against challenger Vladimir Kramnik in October 2008.Please click HERE to play through the games of Anand. The link will open in a new window.
NOTABLE GAMES:Karjakin vs Anand, 2006 0-1
Anand vs Topalov, 2005 1/2-1/2
Anand vs Lautier, 1997 1-0
Anand vs Bologan, 2003 1-0
Anand vs Kasparov, 1995 1-0
Anand vs Ponomariov, 2002 1-0
Radjabov vs Anand, 2002 0-1
Kramnik vs Anand, 2004 1/2-1/2
Anand vs Karpov, 1996 1-0
Anand vs Kramnik, 2005 1-0

Acclaimed as the Fastest Brain in the world, Viswanathan Anand is the World Number one and World Champion. It is his success in the world scene that has made this ancient Indian game, a mass sport in India.The critics rate him as one of the biggest natural talents ever in the history of chess. His hallmark lightening speed and intuitive play came to be recognised when he became the first Indian Grandmaster in 1987.

On 29th September 2007 Anand became World Champion for the second time in his career. By winning the event in Mexico Anand becomes the Undisputed Champion, ending many years of schism in the chess world. An feat that is unique as he achieved it while being the World No.1. A honour shared by a select few. Anand became the first Asian to win the World Championships in 2000. In 2007 Anand reached the number one spot on the world ranking lists by winning the prestigious Linares tournament. He becomes the seventh person in modern chess history to reach the coveted spot. This is the first for an Indian and Asian . He won the prestigious Melody Amber, Blind & Rapid chess in Monaco in 2003, 2005, 2004(Rapid), 2006, 2007(Rapid). The Leon Magistral for the seventh time, Corsica Masters five times & the Mainz Classic a staggering ten times. His results in rapid chess make him one , if not the greatest player ever in chess history . If his talent as a Rapid chess player is legendary, his records in classical chess have been superlative. In January 2006, he became the only player in chess history to win the Corus Chess event 5 times in the tournament’s 70-year history. He has won the prestigious Corus event 5 times (1989,1998,2003,2004 & 2006), Linares Super Tournament 3 times (1998 , 2007 and 2008), Dortmund Sparkassen 3 times (1996,2000 & 2004) and other important events like, Madrid Masters, Biel etc.

One of the few non-Soviet players in the sport, Viswanathan Anand has been feted with many international awards. He is the proud recipient of the Chess Oscars given for the best player of the year . He received this award four times. (1997,1998, 2003,2004) (An unique distinction he shares with Bobby Fischer).In India he has received the civilian awards, Padma Vibhushan,Padma Bhushan, the Padmashree and the Arjuna Award. He is the first recipient of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award. He has received other prestigious awards from private organisations .

Having travelled to close to 50 countries, Anand is also fluent in Spanish and German. One of the projects closest to heart is the NIIT Mind Champions Academy which aims at taking chess to over 1 million children from both Government and Private schools in India . Known as the Gentleman Champion in the chess world, Anand is a spokesperson for Vidyasagar, a NGO that crusades for the Inclusion of children with cerebral palsy and he also represents Avahan, the Bill& Melinda Gates Foundation initiative on AIDS. Anand is a keen follower of current affairs, world business and astronomy. Source: http://www.uep-worldchess.com/

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Beauty lives with kindness-Shakespeare, Two Gentlemen of Verona

I took the road less travelled by,
and that has made all the difference. Robert Frost Creativity is the defeat of habit by originality.-Arthur KoestlerNo man ever steps in the same river twice-
HeraclitusThere is nothing more frightening than active ignorance. - Goethe Churchill described his impressions of the Boer army when he first saw it, as a recently taken captive: 'What men they were, these Boers! I thought of them as I had seen them in the morning riding forward through the rain--thousands of independent riflemen, thinking for themselves, possessed of beautiful weapons, led with skill, living as they rode without commissariat or transport or ammunition column, moving like the wind, and supported by iron constitutions'.Carlsen vs Anand Sochi 2014

Anand vs Carlsen Chennai 2013You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.-Abraham LincolnSpoken by great men:"Give me 20 divisions of American soldiers and I will breach Europe. Give me 15 consisting of Englishmen and I will advance to the borders of Berlin. Give me two divisions of those marvellous fighting Boers and I will remove Germany from the face of the earth." - Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery, Commander of the Allied Forces during WW2."The Americans fight for a free world, the English mostly for honor, glory and medals, the French and Canadians decide too late that they have to participate. The Italians are too scared to fight, the Russians have no choice. The Germans for their Fatherland. The Boers? Those sons of Bitches fight for the hell of it." Amercan General, George 'Guts and Glory' Patton.
European Chess Club Cup 2012

London Chess Classic 2015A nation that forgets its past has no future - Winston ChurchillHe who knows not, and knows not that he knows not, is a fool. Shun him. He who knows not, and knows that he knows not, is a child. Teach him. He who knows, and knows not that he knows, is asleep. Wake him. He who knows, and knows that he knows, is a leader. Follow him. If Education is the key, school is the lock. Education is either to calm the disturbed or disturb the calm. He who opens a school door, closes a prison-Victor HugoDocendo discimus [by teaching we learn] Gary Player: 'I am a South African, a nation which is the result of an African graft on European stock and which is the product of its instinct and ability to maintain civilized values and standards amongst the aliens'.Above all shadows rides the sun- Tolkien In Renaissance Europe chess was part of the education of the nobility and was proclaimed the “Royal Game.” In 1732 Benjamin Franklin wrote an essay, The Morals Of Chess, in which he said “The game of chess is not merely an idle amusement; several very valuable qualties of the mind useful in the course of human life are to be acquired and strengthened by it....” 'Rebranding the Afrikaner: World Cup watershed?' [CNN] A good link: read all of Jabulani74's comments on this link.
on THIS LINK you can read the truth - Sharpeville [or the lies, whichever way you want to see it-see the 2nd image too]The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis. Dante AligheriSow the wind - Reap the hurricaneIstanbul Chess 2012 [Click the image for the official site]Biel Chess Festival 2011- Click the image for the official site "Mag aldus die Afrikaner stam, van wie die toekoms altyd vol hoop was, in die einde opgroei tot 'n kragtige boom, en ons dade toon dat ons waardig is om 'n plek in te neem in die ry van die volke..." Paul KrugerLife is not about waiting for the storms to pass... It's about learning how to dance in the rain-Vivian GreeneNo one can know or appreciate the Boer who does not know his past, for he is what his past has made him- Conan Doyle - Click HERE to read more by Doyle.

An opinion should be the result of thought, not a substitute for it.South Africa. Other than Germany probably the most misunderstood White country in the world. A country that has now degenerated into anarchy.Let’s take an unbiased look at their noble history.[click for the link]He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors. Thomas JeffersonAny dead thing can go with the stream; it takes something ALIVE to swim against it.Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak. Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.T.S. Eliot Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take and good poets make it into something better, or at least something differentThe man who does not know who his great-grandfather was, naturally enough would not care what he was...the man who fears to disgrace his ancestor is certainly less likely to disgrace himself. Charles Major, When Knighthood was in Flower

Die grootheid van die mens kan gesien word in hoe hy teenoor sy minderheid optree.Every truth has four corners: as a teacher I give you one corner, and it is for you to find the other three.-ConfuciusMusic expresses feeling and thought, without language; it was below and before speech, and it is above and beyond all words. ~Robert G.Ingersoll'And lastly, we learn by chess the habit of not being discouraged by present bad appearances in the state of our affairs; the habit of hoping for a favorable chance, and that of preserving in the search of resources.' -Benjamin Franklin, 'The Morals of Chess'The hardest game to win is a won game --Emmanuel LaskerAvoid the crowd. Think independently. Be the chess player, not the chess piece- RumiIt is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation. -Herman MelvilleWhile one should always study the method of a great artist, one should never imitate his manner. The manner of an artist is essentially individual, the method of an artist is absolutely universal. The first is personality, which no one should copy.Did you know: Chess has the most extensive literature of any game, sport or pastime.Chess is a sea in which a gnat may drink and an elephant may bathe –Indian proverbChess is the touchstone of the human intellect.
-Johann Wolfgang von GoetheThe chessboard is the world, the pieces are the phenomena of the Universe, the rules of the game are what we call the laws of Nature and the player on the other side is hidden from us--Thomas Huxley.God created the world just like a knife and left it up to us to take it by the handle or the blade--C J LangenhovenJou persepsie hang waarskynlik alles af van hóé wyd jou opvatting van die poësie is-Joan Hambidge.Doubt is the beginning, not the end, of wisdom.- Proverb. I doubt, therefore I think; I think therefore I am.-Rene Descartes-
Doubt is not the opposite of faith; it is one element of faith.- Paul Tillich
He who knows nothing, doubts nothing. Spanish proverb. Wisdom begins in wonder.- SocratesVal eerder in my sop as in my rede--LangenhovenSeek in the past everything that is good and clean and build thereon your future.Vriende moet soos boeke wees, min, maar goed uitgesoek --LangenhovenFriends should be like books, few, but hand-selected --Langenhoven Goeie boeke en musiek verryk jou siel --LangenhovenGood books and music enrich your soul --LangenhovenLet those love now who never loved before. Let those who always loved now love the more. --Thomas ParnellLove is like quicksand--the deeper you fall in, the harder it is to get out.Some people come into our lives, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never the same.There is no failure except in no longer trying--Elbert Hubbard.The secret of success is the ability to survive failure --Noel Coward.You cannot step twice in the same river, for other waters are continually flowing in--Knowing not how to listen is knowing not how to speak--Heraclitus, Fragments.Vuil wasgoed is om te was!-- Langenhoven'I think one move ahead - but it is always the best move'-RetiSome part of a mistake is always correct. - Savielly TartakoverChess teaches you to control the initial excitement you feel when you see something that looks good and it trains you to think objectively when you're in trouble.--Stanley Kubrick A man is like a fraction whose numerator is what he is and whose denominator is what he thinks of himself. The larger the denominator, the smaller the fraction.
Leo Tolstoy Love is like a knife, it can stab the heart or it can carve wonderful images into the soul that will last a lifetime.A rising tide raises all boats! - JFKennedyThe artist creates in order to free himself, only to find himself again in the end-Irma SternAnd think not you can guide the course of love. For love, if it finds you worthy, shall guide your course.Kahlil Gibran Chess, like love, like music, has the power to make men happy.TarraschChess is a beautiful mistress.LarsenChess is as much a mystery as women.PurdyEarly to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.Benjamin FranklinLove is like a Game of Chess: One False Move and You're Mated ~ Anonymous~Chess is the art which expresses the science of logic.Mikhail BotvinnikThe pawns are the soul of chess.Philidor~~Play to win, if not, be an artist and draw~~

Those that know, do. Those that understand, teach. Aristotle
By learning we teach and by teaching we learn
Men Top Ten chess players
Women Top Ten chess players

Chess Grandmaster -Vassily Ivanchuk says:
"And do you like playing chess against women?
I wouldn’t say I do particularly, but I also wouldn’t say I don’t like it. In general, I try not to make an exception out of games against women. In chess, female logic differs little from male logic, which you can see just by analysing games. After all, the strongest female players work with men in one way or another. I don’t know what the female style of play is. Or more precisely, I don’t see any difference when compared to male play. In everyday life I also don’t divide people into men and women. For me, personal qualities, mentality and upbringing are the important things when spending time with people."

Some Thoughts

Everyone is a genius.But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid.It is hard for an empty bag to stand upright.― Benjamin FranklinThe real challenges on the way to become a master test your strength of character more than they test your chess skill!-Kevin SpraggettA people are what its women are. The woman is the conscience of her nation as well as the measure of its values. The moral life of a nation is controlled by the women and by the women can we measure the moral condition of the people. - Postma Descartes: cogito ergo sum (ek dink, daarom is ek)==The stupid neither forgive nor forget, the naive forgive and forget,the wise forgive but do not forget--Thomas SzaszWanneer jy groot dinge dink, groot dinge glo en groot dinge bid, gebeur groot dinge - N V PealeMense sonder boeke, is soos arende sonder vlerke-G.D.LabuschagneA mere copier of nature can never produce anything great. -Joshua Reynolds
~~~ Jou beeld is 'n verflenterde foto in 'n skewe, versplinterde raam en 'n sestal geskommelde letters spel jou tweelettergrepige naam Jou woorde is dor manuskripte vir die motte bewaar op die rak en ons dae 'n kralesnoer syfers op 'n outydse muuralmanak. - Koos du PlessisLove means nothing in tennis, but it's everything in life.Einstein:Chess grips its exponent, shackling the mind and brain so that the inner freedom and independence of even the strongest character cannot remain unaffected.

Die woord 'skaak' kom van die Persiese woord 'sjah', wat koning beteken. Ook die woord 'mat' is Persies en beteken 'dood'.
~~~2010!If chess is a science, it's a most inexact one. If chess is an art, it's too exacting to be seen as one. If chess is a sport, it's too esoteric. If chess is a game, it's too demanding to be just a game. If chess is a mistress, she's a demanding one. If chess is a passion, it's a rewarding one.
If chess is life, it's a sad one-UnknownAnand vs Topalov 21 April 2010Book of the moment: In Search of South Africa by H V Morton

http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping

Don't Quit
by: Unknown Author

When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh.
When care is pressing you down a bit.
Rest, if you must, but don't you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns
As every one of us sometimes learns.
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out:
Don't give up though the pace seems slow -
You may succeed with another blow.
Success is failure turned inside out -
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt.
And you never can tell how close you are.
It may be near when it seems so far:
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.

'He who knows not and knows not he knows not, is a fool, shun him. He who knows not and knows he knows not, is simple, teach him. He who knows and knows not that he knows, is asleep, wake him. He who knows and knows that he knows, is a leader/wise - follow him.' -